| Advisory opinion request by Dr. Elliot Beaton and Aaron Thomas, regarding the use of Doctors Imaging, Inc. of Metairie for research conducted on behalf of the University of New Orleans (UNO) and a new consulting company formed between Dr. Beaton and Aaron Thomas to prevent and monitor injuries in athletes in Louisiana. |
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Dr. Beaton and Aaron Thomas are forming a new consulting company to help prevent and monitor injuries in athletes in Louisiana. Dr. Beaton and Mr. Thomas are both married to professors at UNO. Mr. Thomas is an assistant professor at UNO. Dr. Beaton was given a grant that is managed by UNO and is considered part of his job as a member of the faculty. This grant is for a research study on the effects of stress and the development of schizophrenia in children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. The research requires the use of brain scans, including MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) which are conducted at Touro Hospital Imaging Center. The costs associated with the MRIs are negotiated prior to any grant applications and costs are reviewed and approved by the specific agencies the research grants are submitted. (UNO Foundation, Louisiana WISE Fund, local/internal grants, and federal grants) Dr. Beaton is required to pay for the MRI scan time at Touro Hospital.
The consulting company would not use state-owned equipment but would contract with local MRI facility, Doctors Imaging, Inc. of Metairie, for services for head injury and brain trauma on young athletes. Dr. Beaton and Mr. Thomas would not provide medical advice but would help improve the quality of information available to the radiologists on site, who then provide medical expertise and advice to the parents of the athletes. The company's revenue would be received from the Doctors Imaging, Inc. of Metairie and would derive from the consultations. Doctors Imaging, Inc. of Metairie would keep revenues derived from the use of its facilities. Dr. Beaton may seek to use Doctors Imaging, Inc. of Metairie for his UNO research if the terms of cost, image quality, or availability to conduct research scans is more beneficial than the use of Touro Hospital Imaging Center.
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La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) provides that no public servant and no legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent, shall receive any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person during his public service unless such services are neither performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would be prohibited by R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B) from receiving a gift.
La. R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) provides that no public servant shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant's agency.
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Adopt proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brett Robinson |
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